Welcome to the Advent Season! - This time of year, Advent, reminds us that we are always waiting - but never waiting alone. In every season of life, we find ourselves hoping for something just beyond our reach: the new job that will bring stability, the healing that will restore strength, the reconciliation that will ease family strain. Advent names this experience honestly. It acknowledges the ache we carry, the longing that sits quietly in our hearts. And yet it also tells us that waiting is not a sign of failure, but a holy place where God draws near.

The challenge, of course, is that waiting is rarely easy. We want clarity, answers, and resolution. We grow restless when change is slow or when our prayers seem unanswered. Waiting can stir up fear, impatience, or even discouragement. But Advent invites us to shift our gaze - to see our waiting not as empty time but as sacred time. God is at work even when we cannot see it. Like the quiet growth beneath the winter soil, grace is unfolding in hidden ways.

So how do we wait in HOPE? We wait by trusting that God is faithful to His promise. We wait by tending to prayer, by small acts of kindness, by choosing patience over anxiety. Hope is not wishful thinking; it is the confident belief that God is already moving toward us.

In this holy season, we have chosen ALWAYS WAITING IN HOPE, as the focus for our thoughts and prayers. May our waiting become active, expectant, and filled with the light that Christ is bringing into the world. May we learn to wait, not with fear, but with hearts that are open to the God who comes to us.

Keep in mind Saint Monica who prayed for years for her son Augustine’s conversion. She shows us that patient and faithful waiting can open the door to God’s greatest surprises.

What is it you may be waiting for this Advent? Make this a simple daily mantra - “Strengthen my heart as I wait in hope.”

Have a blessed Advent.

With you a Christian. For you, a priest.

Fr. Carl Morello
Pastor
Ascension and St. Edmund Parish
St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy and St. Giles Parish

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